Specialist community mental health services for children and young people received a CQC overall rating of Requires Improvement in the report published on 10th August 2016.

CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. We are a service offering help for children and young people, usually between the ages of five and 18 who live in Bolton.

We work with children and young people to help them cope when they are having problems relating to how they feel, how they think about things and sometimes how they behave.

The team in CAMHS works with GPs, hospitals and other professionals, such as teachers, to assess, treat and support young people and children, and their parents or carers.

What is mental health?

The word ‘mental’ means ‘of the mind’. It relates to how and what you think, your feelings and how you understand yourself and the world around you. This can affect how you behave.

The word ‘health’ relates to the working order of your body and mind. So when we say ‘mental health’ we are talking about the working order of your mind.

Child and adolescent mental health is also about how young people are developing emotionally and how their thinking may be affecting their behaviour.

Sometimes our bodies stop working properly and we become ill. In the same way, we can have problems with our mind which affects our mental health. There are different types of mental health problems. These include depression, anxiety, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

Mental health problems are more common than you may think and they are nothing to be ashamed of.

In the UK around one in ten children and young people have problems with their mental health or emotional wellbeing at some stage.

Even when lots of things seem to be good about someone’s life they can have mental health problems. There are lots of celebrities that have had mental health problems. Just a few are:

singer, Demi Lovato had an eating disorder when she was younger.

singer, Robbie Williams has suffered from depression.

footballer, David Beckham has OCD.

actress, Angelina Jolie has suffered from depression and self harmed.

British olympic gymnast, Louis Smith had ADHD.

To find out more information about mental health you may find these external websites useful.